Attitude or skills? Cultural competence development within an Aotearoa New Zealand bicultural framework
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol34iss4id954Keywords:
cultural competence, biculturalism, cultural safety, cultural humilityAbstract
INTRODUCTION: Cultural competence is one of the most widely used approaches to cross- cultural practice among health and social care professions, including social work. Following the professional code of ethics, social workers must be competent in working with people across cultures. As a result, social work education has sought to teach students to prepare them to become culturally competent. The popular cultural competence model which includes the three components of awareness, knowledge, and skills is often used to measure students’ capability to work in cross-cultural situations. The model has an underlying premise that competency can be achieved through education and training. However, there is insufficient evidence that the three components (or each component in isolation) will improve students’ and practitioners’ competence.
METHODS: This article reports on a qualitative study. Qualitative research offers versatile methods of exploring the three components through gathering information about research participants’ educational learning experiences and analysing their application of its into practice.
FINDINGS: This study found that cultural competence is about enhancing the capability of practitioners to negotiate with differences in practice. Aotearoa New Zealand content on biculturalism in social work education has played a pivotal role in valuing cultural differences to foster. Cultural safety calls forth recognition of others and being more other-oriented, encompassing cultural humility. A receptive attitude toward difference is a by-product of cross- cultural skills for practice.
IMPLICATIONS: The study result strengthens support for the integration of cultural safety and cultural humility in teaching and learning cultural competence in social work education.
References
Abrams, L. S., & Moio, J. A. (2009). Critical race theory and the cultural competence dilemma in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 45(2), 245–261. https://doi.org/10.5175/JSWE.2009.200700109
Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. (2019). Code of ethics. https://anzasw.nz/wp-content/ uploads/Code-of-Ethics.pdf.
Azzopardi, C., & McNeill, T. (2016). From cultural competence to cultural consciousness: Transitioning to a critical approach to working across differences in social work. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 25(4), 282–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2016.1206494
Beddoe, L. (2018). Social work education in Aotearoa New Zealand: Building a profession. Practice, 30(4), 305–320. https://doi.org/10.1080/09503153.2018.1478955
Ben-Ari, A., & Strier, R. (2010). Rethinking cultural competence: What can we learn from Levinas? British Journal of Social Work, 40(7), 2155–2167. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcp153
Bø, B. P. (2015). Social work in a multicultural society: New challenges and needs for competence. International Social Work, 1–13. https://doi. org/10.1177/0020872814550114
Carter, R., & Qureshi, A. (1995). A typology of philosophical assumptions in multicultural counseling and training.
In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (pp. 239–262). Sage.
Denso, R. (2018). Cultural competence and cultural humility: A critical reflection on key cultural diversity concepts. Journal of Social Work, 18(4), 410–430. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017316654341
Dewane, C. J. (2006). Use of self: A premier revisited. Clinical Social Work Journal, 34(4), 543–558. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-005-0021-5
Dunlap, A., & Mapp, S. C. (2017). Effectively preparing students for international field placements through a pre- departure class. Social Work Education, 36(8), 893–904. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2017.1360858
Eketone, A., & Walker, S. (2015). Bicultural practice: Beyond mere tokenism. In K. van Heugten & A. Gibbs (Eds.), Social work for sociologists: Theory and practice (pp. 103–119). Palgrave Macmillan.
Fisher-Borne, M., Cain, J., & Martin, S. (2014). From mastery to accountability: Cultural humility as an alternative to cultural competence. Social Work Education, 34(2), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2014.977244
Fraser, S., & Briggs, S. (2016). Bi-culturalism and accountability: Fundamental changes in social work practice in Aotearoa New Zealand 1984–1990. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 28(1), 43–51. https://anzswjournal.nz/anzsw/article/viewFile/118/223
Harrison, G., & Turner, R. (2011). Being a “culturally competent” social worker: Making sense of a murky concept in practice. British Journal of Social Work, 41, 333–350. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcq101
Ide, Y. (2021). A bottom-up approach to cultural competence [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Auckland]. The University of Auckland Research Repository. https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/ uoa-docs/rights.htm
International Federation of Social Workers. (2021). Global standards for social work education and training. https://www.ifsw.org/global-standards-for-social-work- education-and-training/
Jani, J., Osteen, P., & Shipe, S. (2016). Cultural competence and social work education: Moving toward assessment of practice behaviours. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(3), 311–324. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/104 37797.2016.1174634
Johnson, Y. M., & Munch, S. (2009). Fundamental contradictions in cultural competence. Social Work, 54(3), 220–231. https://doi-org.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/10.1093/sw/54.3.220
Kumas-Tan, Z., Beagan, B., Loppie, C., MacLeod, A., & Frank, C. (2007). Measures of cultural competence: Examining hidden assumptions. Academic Medicine, 82(6), 548–558. https://doi.org/10.1097/ ACM.0b013e3180555a2d
Kwong, M. H. (2009). Applying cultural competency in clinical practice: Findings from multicultural experts’ experience. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work: Innovation in Theory, Research & Practice, 18(1–2), 146–165. https://doi.org/10.1081/15313200902875000
Lum, D. (2007). Culturally competent practice: A framework for understanding diverse groups and justice issues (3rd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.
Lum, D. (2011). Culturally competent practice: A framework for understanding diverse groups and justice issues (4th ed.). Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.
Melendres, M. (2020). Cultural competence in social work practice: Exploring the challenges of newly employed social work professionals. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 31(2), 108–112. https://doi/org/ 10.1080/15313204.2020.1855492
Nadan, Y. (2014). Rethinking “cultural competence practice” in international social work. International Social Work, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872814539986
Nursing Council of New Zealand (2011). Guidelines for cultural safety, and the Treaty of Waitangi and Maori health in nursing education and practice. https://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/Public/Nursing/Standards_and_ guidelines/NCNZ/nursing-section/Standards_and_ guidelines_for_nurses.aspx
Social Workers Registration Board. (2016a). Code of conduct. https://swrb.govt.nz/for-the-public/code-of-conduct/
Social Workers Registration Board. (2016b). Core competence standards: The SWRB ten core competence standards. https://swrb.govt.nz/for-social- workers/core-competence-standards/
Thampi, K. (2017). Social work education crossing the borders: A field education programme for international internship. Social Work Education, 36(6), 608–622. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2017.1291606
Vernon, R., & Papps, E. (2015). Cultural safety and continuing competence. In D. Wepa (Ed.), Cultural safety: In Aotearoa New Zealand (2nd ed., pp. 51–62). Cambridge University Press.
Williams, C. C. (2006). The epistemology of cultural competence. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 87, 209–220.
Yan, M. C., & Wong, Y. R. (2005). Rethinking self-awareness in cultural competence: Toward a dialogic self in cross- cultural social work. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 86(2), 181–188. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.2453
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
By completing the online submission process, you confirm you accept this agreement. The following is the entire agreement between you and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and it may be modified only in writing.
You and any co-authors
If you are completing this agreement on behalf of co-authors, you confirm that you are acting on their behalf with their knowledge.
First publication
By submitting the work you are:
- granting the ANZASW the right of first publication of this work;
- confirming that the work is original; and
- confirming that the work has not been published in any other form.
Once published, you are free to use the final, accepted version in any way, as outlined below under Copyright.
Copyright
You assign copyright in the final, accepted version of your article to the ANZASW. You and any co-authors of the article retain the right to be identified as authors of the work.
The ANZASW will publish the final, accepted manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows anyone – including you – to share, copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and make commercial use of the work without needing additional permission, provided appropriate attribution is made to the original author or source.
A human-readable summary of the licence is available from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which includes a link to the full licence text.
Under this licence you can use the final, published version of the article freely – such as depositing a copy in your institutional research repository, uploading a copy to your profile on an academic networking site or including it in a different publication, such as a collection of articles on a topic or in conference proceedings – provided that original publication in Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is acknowledged.
This agreement has no effect on any pre-publication versions or elements, which remain entirely yours, and to which we claim no right.
Reviewers hold copyright in their own comments and should not be further copied in any way without their permission.
The copyright of others
If your article includes the copyright material of others (e.g. graphs, diagrams etc.), you confirm that your use either:
- falls within the limits of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review or fair use; OR
- that you have gained permission from the rights holder for publication in an open access journal.
